Dr. Rocco Lupoi

Assistant Professor (Mechanical & Manuf. Eng)

PARSONS BUILDING

Dr. Rocco Lupoi was appointed Assistant Professor within the Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering Department, Trinity College Dublin, in July 2012; the year after he was awarded of a prestigious Marie Curie Fellowship. He is a mechanical engineer by background, obtaining an MEng degree from Politecnico di Torino (Italy) in July 2004 over a "vecchio-ordinamento" course of studies. In the same year he was awarded of a grant for a PhD programme in the University of Bath (UK), with thesis title "Effect of shape, size and material on energy dissipation in Equal Channel Angular Extrusion". In this challenging work, he investigated the concepts and working mechanisms of a novel technology known as UREAD capable of dissipating energy in engineering systems against the occurrence of unwanted events (such as earthquakes, crashes and collisions) and with the potential of being 100% re-usable. After being awarded of a PhD degree in October 2008, he was appointed Research Associate in the Institute of Manufacturing (IfM) - Cambridge University (UK) to explore innovative melt-free material additive processes. He is a recognized expert of Cold Spray and other deposition methods, and he is one of the inventors of a new LASER-based coating technology known as "SprayLaze". He is a major contributor in the field, with high-rank publications, patents submitted and an article in a Nature Publishing Group - NPG journal. Dr. Lupoi in Trinity is exploring new manufacturing processes to include Cold Spray and Selective Laser Melting; he is the lead PI of a large research project in this topic funded by the European Space Agency. Dr. Lupoi is currently lecturing 1MEMS1 - Introduction to Manufacturing (1st year); 3MEMS1/4B05 - Manufacturing Technology (3rd and 4th year); 4MEMS2/5MEMS2 - Advanced Manufacturing (4th year and Master level); 5MEMS1 - Micro and Precision Manufacturing (Master level).

Functionally graded multi-materials (FGMs) components are characterized by spatially variation of materials or microstructures, resulting in multiple properties and functions at different parts. FGMs are able to gain the best of all constituent materials, having wide applications in the modern industry. Additive manufacture of a near-net-shape FGMs component with fine details is always a challenge work because the welding of incompatible materials results in large residual stress, high porosity and cracks at the multi-materials interface, especially in metals. In this research, the work aims to develop a hybrid additive manufacturing technology combining selective laser melting (SLM) and other emerging techniques to fabricate high-quality FGMs components, currently not possible to be manufactured.

Funding Agency

Irish Research Council (IRC)

Programme

Postdoctoral Fellowship Programme

Project Type

R&D.

Project Title

Exploring metal-AM and novel 3D printing techniques for the manufacturing of devises in orthopaedics

From

2017

To

2019

Summary

The background of this programme is directly linked to metal Additive Manufacturing (AM). Techniques that constitute this field, such as Selective Laser Melting (SLM) and Electron Beam Melting (EBM) have shown great progress in recent years. It is now possible to directly 3D print components with complex features and with minimum post-processing operations before reaching the net shape. For example, the typical SLM process would require no tooling, is fully automated, and can manufacture components with multi-features in one single processing step. Metal AM has therefore attracted the interest of several sectors; however it seems particularly well suited for the biomedical industry. Using conventional manufacturing processes, this would require investment casting, complex machining processes, finishing processes coupled with etching and coatings steps to achieve a final product. Using SLM, these manufacturing steps can be reduced significantly.

Funding Agency

AMBER and DePuy Ireland

Programme

Targeted Project

Project Type

R&D

Project Title

Development of Cold Spray towards the next generation Additive Manufacturing

From

2014

To

2018

Summary

Cold Spray (CS) is an innovative coating manufacturing process, which allows for the formation of material layers in a solid-state (free of melting) manner. In this method, the feedstock material (in the form of powder) is injected at the inlet of a converging-diverging supersonic nozzle. The nozzle is fed with high pressure gas (nitrogen or helium), which expands through the internal channel and reaches supersonic speed at the exit (above 1000m/s). Particles are dragged by the fast jet, and upon impact against a substrate material they plastically deform and stay bonded. This project aims at developing a unique CS laboratory facility, the first one in Ireland, for CS applications in Space programmes in the form of coatings and and 3D components made out of composites and metals.

The technical and commercial development of Cold Spray applications in Ireland - SprayIreland

From

2015

To

2017

Summary

This is a challenging and high impact project (27 months duration), that will explore and develop commercial applications for Cold Spray. A preliminary feasibility investigation revealed a high implementation potential within the Irish based industry. In close collaboration with a number of industry partners, SprayIreland will develop the technical tools to address, using Cold Spray and similar methods, key challenges within the industry sphere that current technologies have so far failed to solve.

Current methods for the manufacturing of metallic coatings onto non-metallic surfaces are slow, limited in size and to a small range of feedstock materials. Also, they require time-consuming masking steps or complex etching procedures, have low bond strengths, and are coming under very strong pressure to limit their environmental impact through the elimination of toxic waste products. This project will start investigating a revolutionary powder-based technology which will lead to the device of a mask-free, environmentally friendly and low-cost deposition process tailored to the manufacturing of metallic coatings onto non-metallic components. The deposit formation is completely solid-state (free of melting). This programme, Supersonic Spray Advanced Modelling - SSAM, will generate the required computational tools to study and control the particles acceleration process within the processing nozzle.